“There is no doubt we wanted to make it very clear that we do not abide by discrimination in anything, including discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation. One of the wonderful things about the Olympics is that you are judged by your merit, how good you are regardless of where you come from, what you look like, who you …

From the Facebook page of Chicago’s popular Sidetrack bar: Stoli will again be available at Sidetrack. As Russia prepares to launch these Olympic games, TODAY Stoli has allied itself on the side of LGBT Freedom and will once again be on the shelves at Sidetrack. Stoli has pledged $150,000 as their first donation to the Russia Freedom Fund (the same …

From the New York Times: Some marketers are seeking to respond to the protesters without agreeing to their demand to condemn the Russian law. During the opening ceremony coverage, Coca-Cola plans to run a 90-second version of “America Is Beautiful,” its 60-second Super Bowl commercial by Wieden & Kennedy that salutes diversity, and generated complaints from some viewers who expressed …

Via the #CheersToSochi Facebook page: LGBT activists, allies, social media experts, and journalists are invited to participate in the #CheersToSochi War Room in New York City at Boxers Bar HK during the Opening Ceremony of the 2014 Olympic Winter Games this Friday. The purpose of the #CheersToSochi War Room is for participants to monitor the Opening Ceremony and other Olympic-related …

From a petition launched by the American Jewish World Service: Dear President Museveni, I am writing to implore you, respectfully, to veto Uganda’s Anti-Homosexuality Bill that was recently passed by the Ugandan Parliament. As a rabbi, I honor the inherent dignity of each and every person. Jewish theology, tradition and history compel me to uphold the values of kavod habriyot, …

The Tea Party won’t like this part: “People say to me, ‘Why didn’t you go to ABC, to Fox?’ I don’t know anybody over there. These are the only people I have ever known. I’m also proud to say, this is a union show. And I have never worked with a more professional group of people in my life. They …

Via the Guardian: Google has nailed its colours to the mast over Russia’s gay rights record in a new Google doodle, which is dedicated to the Olympic charter. The internet company’s logo was presented in the colours of the rainbow flag and also featured images of Winter Games events. The build-up to the Sochi Games, the opening ceremony of which …

He has quite the fascination with Lil Bub – I think this is his third or fourth clip with her.

“If he [Virginia AG Mark Herring] can’t tell the difference between gender and race, he has a deficient intellect. And if the state and federal judiciary – as such – if they can’t tell the front of the human body from the back, nor distinguish male from female, but claim to have clairvoyant powers that anybody that disagrees with them …

Via press release: The video is the newest fundraising tactic by the Russia Freedom Fund, which aims to raise a million dollars by the end of the Olympics to support LGBT Russian activists. The video was produced by the Fair Games Project, an Indiegogo campaign launched by filmmaker Michael Rohrbaugh. The Fair Games Project also produced a powerful gun violence PSA that received significant attention last year. Athlete Ally is …

“This is a full-scale assault against Christianity and the followers of Christ. When prayer is banned from the public square, when our President fails to defend biblically defined marriage, and he openly and zealously advocates for gay rights; when legislators rush to overrule existing laws to promote gay marriage; when schools and courts consistently suppress religious freedoms; we know we …

This afternoon Queer Nation staged a protest against Vladimir Putin outside the Russian consulate on Manhattan’s Upper East Side.

This is fantastic. Via the Guardian: Channel 4 is to rebrand its on-screen logo with rainbow colours of the gay pride flag – and launch a TV ad campaign called “Gay Mountain” – joining the rising wave of protests about Russia’s anti-gay laws on the eve of the opening of the Sochi Winter Olympics. Channel 4, which has the TV …

Anybody else hearing The Killers? (Tipped by JMG reader Jari)

NBC News reports: Republicans are defending a series of websites they established that appear to support Democratic candidates for Congress, but instead direct contributions to the GOP. The National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC) said its websites were not confusing, and accused Democrats of crying foul because their candidates were struggling. The sites, like this one for Arizona Democratic Rep. Kyrsten …

Slate reports: A large, publicly funded charter school system in Texas is teaching creationism to its students, Zack Kopplin recently reported in Slate. Creationist teachers don’t even need to be sneaky about it—the Texas state science education standards, as well as recent laws in Louisiana and Tennessee, permit public school teachers to teach “alternatives” to evolution. Meanwhile, in Florida, Indiana, …

Losing all those attempts to stop gay marriage wasn’t the last we were going to hear from crackpot GOP Hawaii state Rep. Bob McDermott, who is now trying to get the state to yank a sex education program. Because it mentions homosexuality. “The program normalizes a homosexual lifestyle and anal sex, while failing to warn students of the extreme dangers …

Brian Tashman writes at Right Wing Watch: Back in 2012, televangelist Pat Robertson provoked the ire of Young Earth Creationists when he rejected their claim that the earth is approximately 6,000 years old. Today on the 700 Club, Robertson responded to the debate between Bill Nye and Young Earth Creationist leader Ken Ham — who criticized Robertson’s remarks on creationism …

Pink News reports: Labour MEP for the West Midlands, Michael Cashman stunned the European Parliament today by publicly cutting up his Visa card in protest at the company’s sponsorship of the Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia. Mr Cashman, who was a co-founder of Stonewall and a star of British soap opera EastEnders, has previously said that “hate speech” from Russian …